Interest in having HPV vaccination among adolescent boys in England
Highlights
► This is the first study to explore acceptability of HPV vaccination among boys in the UK. ► Only 10% of boys said they would not have the vaccine. ► The main reason for uncertainty about having the vaccine was lack of information.
Section snippets
Background
Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) is widely recommended for women for prevention of cervical cancer. Two high-risk viral types (HPVs 16 and 18) are associated with approximately 70% of cervical cancers and vaccine efficacy in HPV-naïve populations is high [1], [2]. One of the two available vaccines (the quadrivalent vaccine, Gardasil®) also protects against HPVs 6 and 11, which cause the majority of cases of genital warts. The Australian vaccination programme, using the
Participants
As part of a larger study with girls [32], all boys in years 12 and 13 (16–18 years old) attending one college in South East England were invited to take part in the survey during tutorial sessions. We selected this age group because in the UK individuals over the age of 16 can consent to vaccination without seeking their parents’ permission. Understanding the attitudes of boys who could make autonomous decisions regarding HPV vaccination was therefore considered important. In addition, for
Results
In total, 528 boys completed the questionnaire (89% participation). Mean age was 17 years and most boys were white (82%), not religious (54%) and not entitled to receive EMA (73%; Table 1). Just over half (52%; n = 273) of boys had previously heard of HPV. Forty-one per cent (n = 217) said they intended to have HPV vaccination if it were available to them, 49% (n = 257) were unsure and 10% (n = 54) said they would not have it. None of the demographic factors were associated with awareness of HPV or
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study exploring boys’ awareness of HPV and their intentions to receive the HPV vaccine in the UK. About half of respondents had previously heard of HPV. This is slightly higher than studies of adolescent boys in other countries (e.g. [21], [22]), perhaps because the female classmates of our sample had been offered the HPV vaccine at college. Strikingly, even with very little information about the vaccine, and no information about its health benefits for boys,
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Cited by (29)
Understanding barriers and motivations to papillomavirus vaccination in a middle school in Reunion Island
2023, European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive BiologyThe benefit of the doubt or doubts over benefits? A systematic literature review of perceived risks of vaccines in European populations
2017, VaccineCitation Excerpt :Other studies reported a preference for natural prevention methods [78,86,97,100], a lack of health care provider recommendation [97], previous negative experiences with vaccination [27], the belief that the vaccine could cause flu [78], doubts about the risk-benefit balance [93], the belief that infection strengthens the immune system and that individuals should be brave and face diseases [86], notions of fatalism [86], and fear of injections [86]. In the 29 articles that studied HPV vaccination [104–132], the most common concerns identified were about safety, and particularly unknown adverse reactions that might develop long after vaccination [104–110,112,113,115–120,123–127,129–132]. These concerns often came with discussion around the newness of the vaccine [104,107,112,113,117,126,129], and claims that it has not been tested long enough [104,105,107,115,122,129–131].
A Multiple Streams analysis of the decisions to fund gender-neutral HPV vaccination in Canada
2017, Preventive MedicineCitation Excerpt :A number of barriers to acceptability by parents have been identified in the literature and include not receiving a recommendation from a health professional (Newman et al., 2013), lack of knowledge regarding the availability and recommendation of the HPV vaccine (Lenehan et al., 2008), negative attitudes towards vaccination (Ogilvie et al., 2008), as well as cost and logistical issues (Newman et al., 2013). Adolescents may also object to the vaccine due to generic vaccination concerns such as fear of needles (Hilton et al., 2013), or believing there is no need for HPV vaccination because they are not sexually active (Forster et al., 2012). Some Canadians may perceive that if the government has not funded a vaccine then it is unnecessary (Scheifele et al., 2014).
Knowledge and acceptance of human papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV vaccination in adolescent boys worldwide: A systematic review
2016, Journal of Cancer PolicyCitation Excerpt :As all studies were cross-sectional, it was not possible to determine if time (i.e. allowing HPV vaccination programmes to become more established) impacts level of knowledge. Thirteen studies examined HPV vaccine acceptance [36–40,42,46,48,49,51,52,54,55,57], which was expressed as the percentage of adolescent boys who would be willing to be vaccinated against HPV. In the US (where vaccination was available for adolescent boys) the range for willingness to be vaccination was 30 [38] to 65% [39], one study reported actual vaccine uptake of 11.5% [36].
HPV vaccine acceptance among adolescent males and their parents in two suburban pediatric practices
2015, VaccineCitation Excerpt :Awareness was highly correlated with acceptance and conditional acceptance in adolescents and parents, which is consistent with high conditional acceptance when participants were provided with basic information about the vaccine's health benefits. Previous literature is mixed in its assessment of knowledge as a predictor of vaccine acceptance and uptake, and several studies have described a positive correlation between HPV and HPV vaccine awareness and acceptance [11–14], suggesting that focusing on awareness and essential information about the virus and vaccination may be effective in increasing vaccination rates. This study has several strengths, including its focus on adolescent males.
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Present address: Promoting Early Presentation Group, King's College London, Adamson Centre, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, SE1 7EH, UK.